Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show, created in 2001, is coming to the George Street Playhouse in the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center on November 13 and 14 (2026).
WBGO's Doug Doyle spoke this week with legendary actress, comedian an singer Vicki Lawrence about this hilarious show at Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater.
Best known for her roles on the CBS hit The Carol Burnett Show and NBC's Mama's Family, Lawrence is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her road show.
"Some things have changed in my life, but largely my half of the show is autobiographical because so many crazy things have happened to me. I'd like to think that half of the show is pretty darn funny. When Mama comes out that's my chance to say what all the things that we would like to say but we're too polite to every saw them. It's been really fun over the years. When we first started the show it was on the heels of 9/11. I remember saying to my writing partner that I just want to take people away for 90 minutes and make them laugh and not think about what's going on the world. Here we are 25 years later and I feel exactly the same way."
Vicki Lawrence was still a teenager when she made her debut on The Carol Burnett Show in 1967. After seeing Vicki win the Miss Fireball of Inglewood contest, Burnett wanted Lawrence to play her sister on the newly created CBS Show that ran to 1978.
Vicki says the network was not in love with the idea of the comedy-variety show and sketch comedy series. Lawrence says CBS only had The Carol Burnett Show on the schedule for six weeks.
"Everybody told her that a woman can't do a variety show. They wanted her to do another sitcom, but she said I wanted be different characters every week and I want a repertoire company. She had a contract with them. They had to honor it so they put her on the air. They never expected it to be a hit."
Lawrence gives much of the credit of her stardom to Carol Burnett.
"She's just the kindest, most supportive and sweetest person in the world I think I've ever met. She's just everything everybody thinks she is. To be a recipient of all that love that Carol has is absolutely a gift for me. There's nobody like her. I feel like I was trained by the very best. I say all the time that I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America."
The role of Mama (Thelma Harper) was created by the writers for The Carol Burnett Show. Then, NBC debuted the sitcom Mama's Family in 1983.
Vicki loved to sing from an early age and in high school in Inglewood, California, she toured with the musical group The Young Americans. The group performed at the Oscars and Lawrence got to meet several stars including Johnny Mathis, Louis Armstrong and Henry Mancini.
In 1973, Lawrence sang the #1 hit "The Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia. It was written by her husband at the time. She says he always hated the song, but she knew it was going to be a big hit. As has been much of case during his magical entertainment career, Vicki Lawrence was right.
"I did the demo. His producer could not give it away to anybody because everybody says it's offensive. His producer finally just threw his hangs up and said let's just go into the studio and do it with Vicki. It was a total accident and very serendipitous thing that happened to me. It ended in divorce and not particularly a happy ending but I did get the dog and a gold record."
There's a jazz connection for Vicki Lawrence too. Her brother-in-law is acclaimed drummer Jeff Hamilton.
You can SEE Doug Doyle's entire interview with Vicki Lawrence below:
